Free Never Say Never (Lakeview Contemporary Romance Book 3) by Melissa Hill Page A

the poor girl was shy and very embarrassed about her attack. Again, her gaze kept shooting here and there as if people would recognise her as the silly girl who made a scene here over a week ago. Well, Olivia decided, if she had her way, Robin would have forgotten all about it by the time their little chat was over.
    “So, what can I get you?” she asked as they stood at the counter. “Tea, coffee … and oh, good, they have those chocolate brownies back in again – want one?”
    Robin looked uncomfortable. “Sorry, chocolate is a big no-no most of the time,” she said, apologetically. “Anything with possible traces of peanuts in it is a big no-no.”
    The poor thing, Olivia thought, trying to imagine not being able to eat chocolate of all things. No wonder she was so shy – she was probably used to being made feel like the odd one out. “Probably better off,” she said with a grimace, putting the brownie back on the shelf and, in an attempt to relax Robin a little added, “No wonder you’re so slim.”
    “Not by choice, unfortunately.” Robin gave a little laugh, and Olivia delighted in this small achievement.
    They took a table near the window where they could look out at the comings and goings in the Arts Building.
    “So listen,” Robin began quietly, “I really don’t know how to thank you enough. Most people don’t know what to do … some of them think I’m coming down off ecstasy or something.” She shook her head sadly. “It’s mortifying sometimes.”
    Olivia shook her head. “Ah, some people just don’t know how to react to these things,” she said, sitting forward conspiratorially. “When I was in primary school, one of my classmates was epileptic. As you can imagine, at our age, we were afraid of our lives of her, but at the same time, we all wanted to be her. Imagine, getting all that attention. We thought it was great.”
    Robin looked at her, a faint smile playing about her lips. “I used to hate being the odd one out in school like that, and I was so frustrated about not being able to eat what I wanted.”
    Olivia nodded, eager to hear more.
    “And then of course, being a child and forgetting how much something could affect you, I used to be a bit brazen. I’d take a bite out of a bar of chocolate, just to see what happened, just to see if my mother was only kidding me.” She smiled. “The funny thing was, the only time I got attention from the other kids was when I did something like that – it was the only time they’d notice me. So I tended to do it a lot.” Robin shook her head. “Most of them were terrified of me, but to be honest there was more reason for me to be afraid of them.”
    “Really? Why?”
    “Well, you know the way kids swap lunches and share sweets and things at lunchtime?”
    Olivia nodded, understanding immediately. Many’s the time she had swapped her mother’s boring ham sandwiches for Louise Rooney’s altogether more exciting tuna and mayo ones. And Mrs Rooney always gave Louise orange squash, instead of milk like Olivia’s mother gave her. If Robin had to stay away from foods that could kill her and yet she innocently swapped lunches with her classmates …
    “I could never do that,” Robin went on. “So, as you can imagine, I wasn’t the most popular child in school.”
    “Kids don’t understand, I suppose.”
    “At that age, I didn’t really understand either, which was why I kept eating the wrong things.” She gave a lopsided smile. “So, understandably, the kids were freaked out, the teachers nearly had heart attacks, and my mother was furious. In the end, I spent most of my primary school lunchtimes in class on my own. It’s different these days though, and they’ve banned nuts in most schools now.”
    How sad it all was, Olivia thought, yet how easy to imagine. As a child, knowing she was different and trying to prove herself to the other kids meant that Robin was a danger to herself. Yet being kept inside at playtime